One of the benefits of being a graduate of MCAA's Advanced Leadership Institute (ALI) is the graduates-only educational opportunities, such as the exclusive "Lunch & Learn" on Monday, March 10 during MCAA 2014 in Scottsdale, AZ.  Our featured speaker is Tim Marken, president and CEO of the Breakaway Innovation Group (Boston, MA).  He is also Babson Executive Education's newest "superstar" adjunct lecturer.  He will speak to the ALI alumni about Critical Decision Making: Where You Are Affects Where You Are Going!, a look into his groundbreaking ideas on "business life cycles" and problem prediction. And, if you haven't yet experienced ALI and the leadership and strategic planning knowledge that it provides to our industry's top executives, then apply for ALI Course 14 (September 14-19 and November 9-14).  Please contact Dennis Langley (dlangley@mcaa.org) for an application packet. 

Our industry's future professionals will show off what they know about managing projects, mechanical systems and other requirements of a large commercial project at the finals of the MCAA 2013-2014 Student Chapter Competition on March 11, 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.  Members of MCAA student chapters from four excellent schools - the Milwaukee School of Engineering, Southern Polytechnic State University, Sacramento State University and the University of Maryland - College Park - will present their bids for a project involving the retrofit of a warehouse area in a food processing plant into a products testing facility. Five judges will evaluate the presentations and choose the first and second place teams; the results will be announced at the Annual Awards of Excellence program on March 12. And, you can meet the talented young people from the four competition teams at the Annual Student Chapter Exhibit on March 11, from 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. prior to the competition.